The debate already has started over whether New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis was snubbed when the Associated Press passed him over for defensive player of the year.
Revis established himself as perhaps the best lockdown defender in the NFL, but Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson won the award with a more complete statistical season.
I agree with AP's selection, although I'm a tad surprised the competition wasn't closer. Woodson received 28 votes, while Revis had half that. They accounted for 84 percent of the vote.
NFC North raconteur Kevin Seifert conceded in his commentary that Revis had superior pass-coverage skills, but Woodson showed throughout 2009 he deserved the award more.
"If you game plan well, it's possible to limit the impact of a shutdown corner like Revis," Seifert writes. "But when your skills cross so many platforms, as Woodson's do, it's impossible to diminish his presence."
Readers have gotten passionate in their arguments.
In the comment section of my initial post about Revis coming in a distant second to Woodson, a couple of readers who saw my recent posts about "burn percentage" wanted to know how Revis and Woodson compared.
Stats Inc. records what it calls "burns," the number of times a defender allows a reception to the man he's covering. Stats Inc. then divides that by the number of times the defender is targeted to compute a "burn percentage," a stat in which Revis led the NFL.
Revis: 40 receptions on 108 targets (37.0 percent) for 439 yards and two touchdowns.
Woodson: 40 receptions on 84 targets (47.6 percent) for 560 yards and six touchdowns.